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WORK TITLE: Dancing for the General
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RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and novelist.
WRITINGS
Author of the short story collection Making Their Own Law.
SIDELIGHTS
Bill Beatty is the pseudonym of an author who wishes to remain unknown primary because his day job is confidential in nature. Beatty is the author of Making Their Own Law, a collection of three noir fiction short stories. He is also coauthor with mystery writer Sue Star of the novel Dancing for the General. The novel is set in Ankara, Turkey, a bustling city, complete with market vendors and street-smart kids who snatch purses and disappear down narrow alleys. In addition, the novel features a wide range of characters, including gypsies, spies, inept police dectectives, and the members of the secret police.
Anna Riddle is a young American schoolteacher who arrives in Ankara in 1957 on what she hopes is a bit of a holiday. She is there to take care of her niece, Priscilla. Anna’s sister, Mitzi, is Priscilla’s mother, and along with her husband, Henry Burkhardt, a State Department employee, is in Kenya for a safari holiday.Anna soon discovers, however, that her stay in Turkey is not really going to be an enjoyable one.
The problems begin when Anna and eight-year-old Priscilla go to visit an ancient tomb. Suddenly they hear gunshots and then come across the a dead man wearing a Western-style business suit. Surprisingly, the man is holding a letter written many years earlier by Anna. The letter was to Lt. Rainer Akers, Anna’s former fiance who died on a mission to the Eastern Front during the final year of World War II. In addition, Detective Veli Yaziz discovers that the suit the dead man was wearing belonged to Anna’s brother-in-law. As a result, he is also extremely suspicious of Anna as well, a suspicion heightened by Veli’s belief that any woman would be hysterical upon finding a dead body while Anna appeared to be completely composed.
Veli, however, is soon asked by his boss to put the murder case on hold in order to investigate a potential plot against Turkey’s Grand National Assembly. The suspicion of a the plot came to the police’s attention after a Romanian Gypsy and dancer named Meryem Alekci overheard something about the scheme during a dance at a retired general’s abode. It soon becomes clear that the lives of both Meryem and Anna are in danger. Meanwhile, Anna begins to investigate why she is suspect in the man’s murder and soon realizes someone is out to get her. She also learns a difficult lesson about trusting people Even her niece, Priscilla, seems to be hiding something from her.
Before long another murder occurs that totally shocks Anna, who ends up getting attacked. Priscilla is also abducted, meaning that Anna has yet another challenge to face. Veli is also pondering the question of why his superiors do not seem to want him to solve the two murders and why it appears that they want Veli to stop a revolution without the help of anyone else. It turns out that the retired general is plotting to overthrow the government. The plot becomes more complicated as Anna suddenly has the suspicion that her former fiance may still be alive after she discovers more links to the murders and Rainer. As the story proceeds Anna learns that war can have a profound impact on people, changing them and leading them to do things that they may have never done before.
The story is told primarily from the perspective of Anna. However, chapters are also devoted to Meryem’s story and perspective as well. There is also Vali’s own take on what is happening. “Historical fiction fans won’t want to miss this one,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. A Kirkus Reviews Online contributor called Dancing for the General “an elaborate but exhilarating mystery spotlighting an entirely capable heroine.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2018, review of Dancing for the General, p. 60.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (August 15, 2017), review of Dancing For the General.
Bill Beatty
Author Bill BeattyBill Beatty is committed to noir fiction.
Bill Beatty is a pen name. Because of the highly confidential nature of Bill's day job, biographical details are simply not available. The day job is entirely legal, though.
Bill's novel (written with Sue Star), Dancing For The General, is available from D. M. Kreg Publishing.
Photo at Right: Bill Beatty watches icebergs calve in Alaska.
He can be reached at: billbeattyauthor@gmail.com
Dancing for the General
Publishers Weekly. 265.8 (Feb. 19, 2018): p60+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Dancing for the General
Sue Star and Bill Beatty. D.M. Kreg, $15.99
trade paper (440p) ISBN 978-0-9893578-7-6
Set in 1957, this atmospheric spy story from Star (Organized Death) and Beatty (Hell Down Under) opens in Ankara, Turkey, where Anna Riddle, a young American teacher, has recently arrived to care for her niece, Priscilla, whose parents--Anna's sister and brother-in-law, who works for the State Department--had to leave the country at short notice. One hot summer day, while Anna and Priscilla are visiting an ancient tomb, the sound of a gunshot leads them to the body of a man wearing a Western business suit. Clutched in his hand is a letter written years ago by Anna to her former fiance, Lt. Rainer Akers, who was killed while on a mission to the Eastern Front in 1945. Anna soon becomes embroiled in a slowly unfolding mystery of political turmoil and dark family secrets. Readers may initially struggle to understand the link between Anna's narrative and chap ters devoted to Meryem Alekci, a Romani dancer whose life is in danger, but those who persevere will be rewarded. Historical fiction fans won't want to miss this one. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Dancing for the General." Publishers Weekly, 19 Feb. 2018, p. 60+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529357533/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=507004e1. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529357533
DANCING FOR THE GENERAL
by Sue StarBill Beatty
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KIRKUS REVIEW
An American teacher in 1957 Turkey becomes unwittingly entangled in murder and political unrest in this thriller.
When Anna Riddle gets a telegram from her brother-in-law pleading for help, she flies to Ankara, Turkey, without hesitation. She’s caring for her 8-year-old niece, Priscilla, while career diplomat Henry Burkhardt and Anna’s half sister, Mitzi, are on a Kenya safari. Watching Priscilla isn’t easy for childless Anna. But it turns altogether unnerving when the girl runs ahead at Atatürk’s Tomb and encounters a man Anna doesn’t know—who’s soon a gunshot victim. Bizarrely, the man’s gripping a letter Anna once wrote to her fiance, Rainer, presumed dead 12 years ago near the end of World War II. Detective Veli Yaziz is suspicious of Henry (the dead man wears one of the diplomat’s suits) and, by association, Anna. Yaziz’s boss, however, wants him to forgo the murder case in favor of thwarting an alleged plot against the Grand National Assembly. A discussion on that very scheme is what Meryem Alekci, a Romani, overhears while dancing at a retired general’s palace, putting her in danger. Anna, believing Rainer may be alive, is shocked by a potential second murder and a subsequent kidnapping. Star (Trouble in a Politically Correct Town, 2017, etc.) and Beatty’s (Hell Down Under, 2017, etc.) dense plot is rife with suspense, stemming primarily from Anna’s distrust of most people surrounding her. Even young Priscilla is dubious, since it’s clear she’s withholding information from her aunt. Anna’s motivation for investigating is plausible: she discovers further links to Rainer, as well as Henry and Mitzi, and catches quite a few lies from a range of culprits, including the authorities and the Burkhardts’ neighbors. Anna is also a resourceful protagonist who transcends individuals undermining her; Yaziz is certain she’s hiding something because she fails to become hysterical after seeing a body, “as he would expect most women to do.” Sharp perspectives from Anna, Meryem, and Yaziz make the myriad other characters alarmingly enigmatic and, as a result, any villains hard to define.
An elaborate but exhilarating mystery spotlighting an entirely capable heroine.
Pub Date: June 27th, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9893578-7-6
Page count: 440pp
Publisher: D.M. Kreg Publishing
Program: Kirkus Indie
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15th, 2017